Delayed Write Failure error?

[archcommus]

I use a Maxtor 80 GB in an enclosure for backup. I seem to be able to copy large amounts of data no problem using my sync software (Vice Versa Pro), however, if I copy a large amount of data via normal Windows commands I will get a Delayed Write Failure error as a popup from the system tray after a few minutes. I also get a general exception error if I try to ghost an image to it. Any ideas what's wrong?

 

[Yanagi]

drive might be dying. most of the times when that message pops up you have a dying drive.

 

[archcommus]

Even though Vice Versa is able to copy large amounts of data to it okay? And even though it reads just fine as well?

Hmm...I bought the drive brand new in January of 2003 off of eBay. Could I RMA it to Maxtor?

 

[Matthias99]

That message is an indication of serious hardware problems in either the drive or the drive controller (which is almost certainly built into your motherboard). If other drives do NOT show this behavior, the problem is almost certainly your drive -- and it's almost assured that it will get worse and eventually fail.

 

[archcommus]

Well, I haven't experienced this issue except for when using the external drive, so hopefully it's not my controller. Any kind of stress-testing I can do to test my controller with my internal drive?

I'll run Maxtor's diagnostic prog on the drive tomorrow and see what it says.

Know how Maxtor is with RMAing? Good, bad?

Also, one time I got this error BEFORE the delayed write error while doing a transfer to the drive. This error also popped up once sometime last night, I saw it there in the morning.

 

[een]

Hi,

Had the same problem with a Seagate hard drive in external exclosure. Updated xp, drivers, and installed patches, changed registry. A week full fiddling with no result. Then tried a different hard drive, it produced the same error. Tried on a friend's machine, works like a dream. Concluded that usb 2 controller in mobo is not compatible with the one in the external enclosure.

Bought a PCI to USB2 card for under 10 bucks, plugged it in, and it has been working perfectly with the external enclosure ever since

 

[archcommus]

Hmm, interesting. In my old PC I was using a PCI USB2 card because my front ports were USB1.1. In this system I was using the front ports because they're USB2. I'll try sticking my PCI card in and using that.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Could be the protocol-converter chip in the external USB enclosure overheating. I've heard that some of them can do that after extended data-transfers. That could cause the chip to generate errors on the USB bus. If it's not overheating, then I would concur, perhaps it's simply incompatible with the USB controller chipset on your computer. A USB 2.0 card with an NEC chipset is probably yuor best bet. Avoid Via, they can be flaky.

 

[archcommus]

I really don't understand how two controllers can just be uncompatible. That shouldn't be able to happen.

Anyway, can anyone tell me what they think of this error? As I said, that popped up once before the delayed write error, and two nights ago it popped up sometime while I wasn't even on the computer.

I was going to run the diagnostic app on the Maxtor, but can I do that with it being external? Or do I need to put it in the computer first?

If the drive appears to be fine I'll go ahead and put my PCI card in and try it out. But first I want to get my partitions set up so I can at least try to ghost an image. Check out my thread for that too if you'd like.

 

[archcommus]

Bump.

That error I linked to a picture of just came up again, second time it's ever come up without me doing any transfers or anything. What's it mean?

 

[AnitaPeterson]

I've seen that Delayed Write Failure error pop up on various occasions... it's simply a matter of less than stellar compatibility between the USB enclosure and the system... the HD inside should be fine.. just ignore it and persist, you'll get all the data transferred eventually. I don't know about the second error, though...

 

[archcommus]

NO ONE knows about the second error. I Googled what it says in the title bar and got NOTHING.

Anyway, yes, for folder-to-folder transfers I can just resume it after the error happens, but I can't do that when ghosting an image to it with Norton. I definitely want to do that, so hopefully a PCI USB card will fix the issue.

 

[Navid]

May be you can create the image temporarily on your internal hard drive on a separate partition. Then, copy the image to your external drive and delete it from the internal drive.

 

[archcommus]

Actually, that worked just fine. Thanks for the suggestion.

I ghosted an image of C:\ to D:\, then copied the image files to my external using ViceVersa. 8.62 GB, copied all just fine with no errors. Isn't it odd that doing that with ViceVersa works just fine, yet doing it with a normal Windows transfer or with Ghost causes the delayed write business?

I still want to try a PCI USB card, as ghosting straight to the drive would be more convenient, but, bah, I'm lazy, I'll get around to it.